Tales from a Loud Librarian

I am about to embark on a new school year. It will be my 29th year in a school library. Moving from a classroom teacher to the library was the best thing that I ever did. First, I love working with every student in a school; next, I get to design a program that I know builds on the skills that I have taught the year before that the students were with me; and by the time that they leave my school, the students are prepared for their next step whatever that may be. Writing about why a library program is critical to my students is not because I need to justify what I do everyday, but it is because not everyone in education believes that libraries serve a need. Some believe that since English teachers teach literature and literacy, it is not important for a librarian to do the same. Well, I was not a very good student in elementary school or high school. I loved literature and learning new things just not in the confines of a classroom. With access to a school library and...

This has been a hard school year for me. Besides the day to day of my job as school librarian, I have been trying to empty my mother's house since June that she lived in for 62 years. This has taken a lot out of me emotionally, and the act of sale is mid-January, so there is not much time left to finish it all. Also, the little aches and pains of aging are starting to catch up with me. I really need the two weeks off from school that starts on Saturday.  As I was cleaning around my desk and filing some papers away today, I found this letter in the way back of my file cabinet. I don't remember the student or the year that she wrote this to me, but, boy, it has it put a smile on my face. Sometimes I forget the little things that I do have a huge impact on the students that I see everyday. To me this just helps reinforce that librarians do make a difference.  If you click on the image of the letter, you can enlarge it to read I am going to take some time for...

I have taken a short break from posting in this blog, but that does not mean that I have been negligent in the library. October and November saw many classes in all grade levels visiting the library for research for a social studies paper. Our students must submit a paper to receive honors' credit for any social studies course. I also spent $375 of library funds on new materials for our library makerspace. I will probably do a separate post about those new items, but I am definitely going to write about the new green screen. It was up in the library less than 24 hours before students started using it. I will write a post just on that.  For now, I thought it would be fun to post a bunch of pictures so that you can see what my students have been up to.  We are a 1:1 school but when laptops break down, students use the library computers This student is focused on building a bridge with K'Nex. It is still in the works,  The Keva Planks were a real hit and...

PFTSTA Library is often filled with readers at lunch It never ceases to amaze me. One minute I am enjoying summer break, and the next thing you know I am immersed in a new school year. I realize now that there was more that I could have done over the summer to prepare for the new year. I had only a handful of books ready to order, so I have been frantically preparing a book order. As I began orientation, I noticed updates that needed to happen on the library website . Most of those are now complete, but I haven't visited every page and know that there are more to do. Students are clamoring to know when the clubs that I sponsor will begin. I made signs on Friday advertising the high school book group and the new this year 8th grade book group. In the past, the 8th grade was with the middle school students, and then last year, I added them to the high school group. We made changes to the school lunch schedule this year, so 8th grade will have their very own group. On Monday,...

Engrossed in a good book School opened for students on August 11th, so I have now logged in two school days of the new year. On the first day, I began the day helping 6th graders all who are new to our school find their classrooms. At the change of each period, I was  in the hall helping to guide the students to where they should be. The district asked schools to post on social media using the hashtag #JPPSS1stday. I ran around the building taking a few pictures to post on Facebook and Twitter. Then when I had a few minutes, I worked on the library catalog and getting the library ready to open. Also, seniors, who are taking online classes, were scheduled in the library. Oh, I am the school's laminator queen, and I had piles of posters and papers to laminate for the new year.  First book check out for 2016-17 school year He is gearing up for the Fantastic Beasts movie by reading the book first The district guidelines allow librarians to wait two weeks before...

When I was in library school, I had to take a course called school library management. It was a very straight forward course in terms of what school library management actually meant. What they didn't teach us was how to juggle getting all the management tasks done in between teaching classes, fielding research questions, readers' advisory, running clubs, dealing with technology issues, helping with whatever problem walked through the door, etc.  Download your own copy of this sign I have a sign in front of the circulation desk that encourages all who enter to interrupt me . Yes, I really do mean for the students, teachers, administrators, staff, and parents who walk through the doors to talk to me and ask me for help or assistance. That is a big part of my job--to be a support to all members of the school community. Also, a part of my job is to deal with all library resources including print and electronic materials as well as hardware that gets checked in and out of t...

Several years ago, the Advocacy Toolkit committee from AASL (American Association of School Librarians) called for members to submit stories with examples of library advocacy in their libraries. The toolkit was getting revised. I wrote a story about how the Louisiana school librarians fought the state board of education (BESE). The librarians were asking BESE not to revise the librarian section in the bulletin that outlines how superintendents and principals should govern K-12 schools. I submitted my story two years ago and forgot about it. I received an email earlier this summer asking for a picture because they had planned to publish my story. The toolkit was published on June 25, 2015.  Open here to read the Louisiana library success story and more; scroll down to the bottom of the page to find my story. 

“In a twenty-first-century school, libraries and librarians are more important than ever for student success,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia.

Two weeks ago,  I shared the story of how we transformed a wall in the library with decals . When I purchased the dots, I also purchased an Einstein quotation to put on the wall. I was hesitant to begin that project because though the letters were removable, you did not have the option to reapply them if you made an error in placement. When I finally opened the package, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the process was and how professional the finished product looked. Like the dots, I purchased the quote decals from Demco .  Step 1: Affixing the first part of the quote on the wall Step 2: Rubbing the letters off of the transfer paper and onto the wall (the transfer paper is sticky and you can move it until you are happy with placement) Step 3: First part done, two more to go Step 4: Second part done, one more to go Step 5: Almost done Job is all done!

I am not sure if the year old school and school library count as new anymore, but the teachers were not allowed to put any holes in the wall or hang any posters or art last school year. The school had a year warranty with the construction company, and the principal did not want to void that warranty by any damage caused by one of us. Actually, I did not mind the restriction because I was busy enough trying to organize the new library and figure out how I was going to make it work for my program.  The large empty wall that I see from the circulation desk The other day as I was looking at photos to use on the library website, I realized that the wall I see from the circulation desk was immense and void of anything. I knew that I needed to figure out how to dress it up. I was making a DEMCO order, and as I perused the online catalog, I found some wall decals that I thought would suit my purpose very well.  Packaging for the dots, each package holds 18 decals ...

Earlier in the month, I blogged about some resolutions for 2014 that I wanted to initiate in the library. I am so proud of myself because I have already begun seriously tackling one of these resolutions. There are so many fiction books that are series, and I can't remember series order and neither can the students. Often, the students don't even realize that an appealing book is part of a series. One of my tasks for the new year is to label all books in a series. Over the holidays, I bought supplies to begin the process of labeling. See the picture above. That is not exactly true. I already had the scissors, iPad Mini and clear label protectors. I did have to buy those colorful green dots. I set up a template for the stickers on the computer so I could print out the numbers. I didn't want to write them--my handwriting is atrocious. I started the process when I received a shipment of new books the first week that we got back from the holidays. Then this week, I be...